At our friend’s wedding, my boyfriend stretched out his leg and tripped me so I wouldn’t compete with his assistant for the bouquet. The three-month-old baby in my womb couldn’t survive the impact. I miscarried. Blood spread across the floor in an instant. My whole body shook violently. Shock flashed through Mason Hart’s eyes, but he pretended nothing had happened and smiled. “Enough. It’s someone else’s wedding. Why are you lying there like that?” “I didn’t mean anything by it. I just wanted you to run slower so you wouldn’t fight Ruby for the bouquet.” While I fell, Ruby Bell had already caught the bouquet in her arms with a smile. Seeing my shoulders tremble, Mason grabbed my arm and yanked me up as if I were an object. “Enough. Get up already. How long are you going to keep pretending? What’s wrong with you? Did your period come?” Only when blood had pooled across the floor and even stained the edge of Mason’s clothes did he finally seem to realize something was wrong. Looking at my pale face, he asked in disbelief, dazed, “Ava Vale, where is all this blood coming from? Don’t tell me… you…” I had planned to catch the bouquet and then tell Mason about the surprise I had hidden for three months. But none of that mattered anymore. I forced out a smile and answered coldly. “I was pregnant. You killed your own child with your own hands. Are you satisfied now?” Mason sat beside my hospital bed. Only after replying to Ruby’s messages did he finally have time to look at me with blame. “Didn’t you know you were pregnant?” “You’re an adult. Can’t you even take care of your own body?” While I was in surgery, he had gone home to change clothes. There was no blood left on him now. He said the second half of the wedding had gone badly because something happened to me and ruined the atmosphere. “When you’re discharged, I’ll host a dinner. You can apologize to Paige and her husband.” I stared blankly at the ceiling and asked him, “Mason, was it my fault? Did I fall on purpose?” “Did I want to miscarry?” When he saw how pale my face was, he fell silent for a moment. “You shouldn’t have run so fast.” “I just wanted to stop you so you’d give the bouquet to Ruby.” “You know she got divorced and still hasn’t really moved on.” “She only wanted a little good luck. Why did you have to fight her for it?” It was the wedding of our mutual friends, Paige and her husband, who had been together for years. When Paige was about to toss the bouquet, she spoke playfully. “Get ready to catch it. Whoever catches it will be the next to get married.” Before the ceremony started, she had pulled Mason and me aside. “When I throw the bouquet, I’ll throw it in your direction.” “Mason, I don’t mind if you propose at my wedding. Double happiness would be perfect.” She winked at both of us. Everyone wanted the blessing of that happy couple. I wanted it too. I thought Mason and I had both understood Paige’s hint. So I tried hard to run to the front and catch the bouquet that represented marriage. Ruby and I were both just about to touch it. Then Mason suddenly stretched out his leg. The moment I tripped, the bouquet bounced from my hand and fell into Ruby’s arms. Seeing that I had quieted down, Mason leaned closer and patted my hand. He brushed it all aside lightly. “Okay. Let’s not talk about this anymore.” As if he were being considerate, he said, “If you don’t want to apologize, then don’t.” “The baby was still in your belly. It was only an embryo. If an accident took it, then it’s gone.” “Don’t be too sad.” “Take care of your body. If you want children, we’ll have more.” I pulled my hand away and closed my eyes. Suddenly, I remembered the checkup only a few days earlier, when the doctor had smiled and told me, “In a little while, you’ll slowly start feeling fetal movement.” I gently placed my hand back on my lower abdomen. But now, there was nothing there. Empty. Only hollow breathing remained in the ward. Perhaps thinking I was asleep, Mason lowered his voice while speaking to Paige on the phone. “I hired someone to take care of her.” “If you have time, come visit her more and cheer her up.” “Me?” “I still have work at the company. I can’t stay here every day.” “And seeing her so lifeless puts pressure on me too.” “She doesn’t really want to talk. Staying beside her makes me irritated. It’s suffocating.” The door opened, then closed. Mason’s voice faded gradually until I couldn’t hear it anymore. I stayed at the recovery center for another two weeks. Mason came only twice. Each time, he stayed less than ten minutes before leaving. “I can’t help much anyway. I still have things to do. I’ll go first.” He couldn’t help much, and he was indeed busy. Messages kept flashing on his phone, Ruby’s name appearing again and again. He replied to every one of them without missing a beat, not even lifting his eyes. “When you’re discharged, I’ll come pick you up.” But he didn’t remember the day of my discharge. The caregiver called him. He didn’t listen to what she said, only gave two perfunctory hums and hurried to hang up. “I’m busy right now. Whatever it is, you can arrange it.” In the background, Ruby’s sweet voice called his name. The caregiver held the disconnected phone and looked at me awkwardly. At home, it was lively. When I pushed open the door, an unfamiliar woman was bringing the last dish out of the kitchen. She was still muttering, “Mason, you must try this. It’s my specialty.” “Ruby loves it most.” Mason smiled, perfectly skilled at making people happy. “Ruby loves it? Then I’ll definitely love it too. Ruby has always told me your cooking is amazing.” Ruby covered her face shyly, cheeks flushed red. When I came in, it was like two worlds at either end of the room. As if I had disturbed them. Ruby’s mother hesitated before speaking. “And this is?” Mason stood, intending to take me outside. As he pushed my shoulder, he comforted Ruby’s family. He searched for a while and finally chose a suitable identity for me. “She’s my assistant. She came to deliver something.” The exhaustion in my body spread into my heart. Mason held my hand. “After Ruby’s divorce, her parents kept pressuring her.” “She had no choice, so she told them she already had a new boyfriend.” “She didn’t expect them to suddenly come from their hometown this time, so she asked me for help.” “She wants me to pretend to be her boyfriend for a few days until her family leaves.” He shook my hand as if this were nothing. “Mason, when did her parents arrive?” He seemed not to expect that question and froze before giving a date. It was the day I had surgery. I slowly smiled. “No wonder you’ve been so busy lately.” Seeing me smile, Mason seemed relieved. “You know Ruby has been by my side for years, sharing so much of the burden.” “She’s my assistant and also my friend. I have no reason not to help with something like this.” “I spend a little time, and her parents think their daughter is doing well. Then they can go back without worrying so much.” He had considered everything. From the bottom of my heart, I sighed. “Mason, you’re really considerate to her.” I pressed a hand against Mason and pushed him away when he tried to lean closer. Ruby followed us out, rushing forward to stand in front of Mason as if I were some villain. “Ava, don’t hit him.” “I was the one who begged Mason to help. If you want to blame someone, blame me.” “My place is too small. Mason thought about how hard it was for my parents to visit, and since you happened not to be here, he offered to let us stay.” I happened not to be here. That was good for them. It wasn’t just a meal or a dinner. They were living together. “I’ll take my parents and move out right now. Don’t fight because of me.” She said she would leave, but her feet didn’t move at all. Mason pulled her behind him and explained gently, “Don’t worry about me. We’re not fighting.” “Your parents are leaving soon. Don’t overthink it. Stay here properly.” Ruby looked anxiously at me. “Ava, you don’t mind, do you?” I looked at the light falling on their still-touching hands and hummed faintly. “I don’t mind.” “It’s Mason’s house. If he wants you to stay, then stay.” I thought about many things. Mason and me. Mason and Ruby. Myself. In the end, I thought, there was nothing to mind. I was going to break up with Mason. My phone kept ringing. In our friends’ group chat, someone posted a photo. Mason was accompanying Ruby and her family around a shopping mall, carrying many shopping bags in his hands. He looked every inch the good boyfriend and good son-in-law. “Mason, what is this?” Someone finally seemed unable to watch anymore, and their words were less carefully chosen. “Ava, I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time.” “I’ve run into Mason and this good assistant of his together outside work more than once.” “I was afraid you’d think I was stirring up trouble between you two, so I kept holding back.” “But at Paige’s wedding, he insisted on bringing someone extra, and it had to be this woman.” “You miscarried. He’s not home taking care of you? But he has time to shop with another woman?” “If someone didn’t know better, they’d think they were the couple.” My lower abdomen seemed to ache in response to that question, throbbing faintly. My friend had held back. So had I. From the moment Ruby said she was divorcing until the whole process was finished. Mason helped a lot in the middle. He helped her deal with her ex-husband’s harassment, helped her find a powerful lawyer to fight the divorce case. Seeing that she was in a bad mood, he extended their business trip. After the project discussion ended, he accompanied her around the local city on walks. When he helped me choose gifts, Mason would unconsciously say, “This actually suits Ruby.” When Ruby got drunk, he went to pick her up and personally took care of her. He listened to Ruby drunkenly ask why other men couldn’t be as good as Mason. Mason made her hangover tea and fed it to her while answering, “Then next time, meet me earlier.” I had accompanied him in the middle of the night for that trip. Hearing that, I frowned. “Mason, don’t you think you and Ruby have crossed a line?” He stared at me for a few seconds, then suddenly laughed. “You’re getting jealous over nothing?” “She’s been running around with me since the company first started and never complained once.” “This divorce has hit her hard. Whether emotionally or logically, I have to take extra care of her.” If I asked again, he brushed me off with the same kind of words. If I asked too many times, he told me to calm down and stop thinking of that kind of thing every time I saw a man and a woman together. The worst fight we had nearly ended in a breakup. It was at his company’s annual party. The first prize was a voucher for a couple’s island vacation. I hooked my finger around Mason’s. “If either of us wins, we’ll go when you take a break.” I was number six. Ruby was number nine. When it was time to draw, Ruby played along with the atmosphere. “Pick me. Pick me.” Mason was in charge of the draw. In the noisy room, he and Ruby looked at each other through the crowd. Then he smiled and read out the winning number. “Congratulations, number nine.” I looked at the number in my hand. I was a little disappointed, but it was fine. Until I saw the winning card that had been cleared away. The number written on it was clearly six. Mason admitted he did it on purpose. “It’s just a small thing. If you want to go, I can take you.” “Ruby is at a low point right now. She wanted it, and it just happened to be you who won, so I thought we could let her have it and make her happy. Isn’t that nice?” “How many times have you thrown tantrums over things like this? Can you be more mature?” “Stop being so petty.” “No. No.” I cut him off sharply. “That was mine. And you’re my boyfriend. Why did you give away my things without asking me?” Mason didn’t want to argue and walked away. It made me look like a hysterical, resentful woman. Watching his back, I suddenly threw the number card at him. “If you want to give things away, then give yourself away.” “I’ll give you to her too.” “Mason Hart, we’re breaking up.” I had walked far away before Mason seemed to react. He hurried after me and grabbed me. His breathing was unsteady. The criticism he had been about to say died when he saw that I wasn’t pretending. He panicked. He held me tightly and kept coaxing. “Okay, okay.” “I’m sorry, Ava.” “I’ll make her return it right now. I won’t do it again.” When my struggling weakened, he nuzzled me affectionately. “I knew it. When have you ever truly been willing to leave me?” He said he would be more mindful of boundaries. But when Ruby said at the wedding that she no longer believed love would come to her, Mason naturally wanted me to give her the bouquet that represented happiness. Only this time, what I lost was not just a free travel voucher. I stopped thinking about those things. In the boiling group chat, I replied with one message. “It’s fine. I’m going to break up with Mason.” Neither my family nor Mason’s knew about the miscarriage. They complained lightly and dragged me out for afternoon tea. “Ava, what have you and Mason been busy with lately? We wanted to visit, but you kept saying you couldn’t and it was inconvenient.” Mason’s mother pretended to be displeased. “I called him so late last time and even heard his assistant’s voice beside him.” “You both need to take care of your health. Don’t work so late.” I smiled. Words lodged in my throat, but I couldn’t say them. Mason noticed us first. He clearly didn’t expect to run into us at the mall. He directly pulled me aside. “Ruby and her parents are here too. If we run into each other, it’ll be hard to explain.” “Can you take my mom and yours somewhere else?” Mason rubbed my earlobe. “Mm?” Soft music played in the mall, but for no reason, it irritated me. I stepped back, not wanting to be too close to him. Mason’s hand missed, then he withdrew it as if nothing had happened. “I originally thought you were too busy to deal with things between us, so I would wait until Ruby’s parents left.” “But right now, I really can’t wait another second.” He didn’t understand what I meant. Perhaps displeased that I had avoided his touch, he bent down and tried to kiss me. I turned my head, and the kiss landed only on my cheek. “Wait for what? I know. Once they leave, I’ll properly spend time with you.” “Be good.” I rubbed hard at the side of my face where he had kissed me, wanting to erase the sticky feeling. My voice wasn’t loud, but my eyes were cold. “Mason, don’t make this feel as disgusting as an affair.” “We’re brea—” Before I could finish, my mother and Mason’s mother came out of the shop and saw us. They were pleasantly surprised. “Mason, why are you here too? Didn’t you say you were busy?” Mason behaved flawlessly. “I’m meeting a client nearby, Mom.” My fingers curled almost imperceptibly. I suddenly remembered that after he promised me he would pay attention to boundaries with Ruby, the time we spent together had actually decreased. He always said the company was busy. Ruby had once posted a photo. In the corner of the picture was Mason’s distinctive hand. When I asked him what it meant, he said he was meeting a client. The exact same tone. As he spoke, Mason casually handed me a card. “All expenses for the three ladies in my family today are on me.” “Consider it my apology.” Both mothers immediately laughed. They teased that I was the richest person in the family. Looking at their smiles, I swallowed the sigh I couldn’t let out. Mason was anxious for me to leave, so he pushed the card toward me again, about to put it directly into my hand. But just as he turned around, footsteps thundered closer, loud enough to shake the building. Someone behind me suddenly grabbed my hair. The hand was rough from hard labor, gripping and yanking me. Then a heavy slap landed across my face. My cheek swelled instantly, five clear finger marks appearing. My eardrum buzzed as if ruptured. The scene was chaotic and ugly. Ruby’s mother had been held back, but she was still trying to rush forward as if she wanted to tear me apart. “The last time you came to my son-in-law’s house, I could tell you weren’t decent.” “You mistress, trying to take her place. You chased him all the way here to ask for money.” Her hair had come loose, and she threw herself toward the ground as if ready to make a scene. “Everyone, come judge this.” “This woman is a mistress. She claimed she was my daughter’s boyfriend’s assistant, using work as an excuse to chase him into his home.” “What kind of thoughts do women like you have? You think others can’t see?” “And today I caught them pulling at each other, with her trying to take my daughter’s boyfriend’s bank card.” “My daughter told me too. This mistress just had a miscarriage.” “So shameless, so cheap, and still trying to cling to my daughter’s man.” “Don’t even dream of it.” Her voice was loud, sentence after sentence. Many people stopped, their gazes falling on me, their faces full of contempt.
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